Very busy fueling stations often have quite long queues of vehicles waiting to access a dispenser for refueling. A customer wanting to refuel must quickly choose a refueling lane (i.e., the approach to a fueling position) based on an observation of the relative lengths of the respective queues and the refueling status of the vehicle currently at the dispensing position. As a result, traffic at the service station can be chaotic. In addition, customers may be frustrated to discover after choosing a dispensing position that the reason the position appears open is that it is out of service. It would be advantageous to the retailer if refueling throughput at the service station could be increased, thus enhancing customer satisfaction.